WEEK 9: ACROSS AMERICA 2019

Carl Wycoff. Farming in northern Polk County under a beautiful Iowa sky https://flic.kr/p/88USk1

WEEK 9 RUN-WALK-BIKE ACROSS AMERICA 2019 STARTS TOMORROW
Segment 21: Sioux Falls SD to Okoboji IA
Segment 22: Okoboji IA to Clear Lake IA
Segment 23: Clear Lake IA to West Union IA
 
The travel route on the first day/segment this week takes Across America challengers through the corners of three states: southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa. The next two days/segments will be spent crossing, west to east, the gently rolling hills and cornfields of Iowa.
 
Vacation spot Okoboji is the first stop on this leg of the trip that will end at the west coast of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes. Interestingly Okoboji sits between two lakes, West Okoboji Lake and East Okoboji Lake, which are part of a chain of five ‘glacier carved lakes’ known locally as the “Iowa Great Lakes”. The chain of lakes, which also include Spirit Lake, the largest, and Upper Gar, Lower Gar, and Minnewashta extend southward from the Minnesota border. According to the VacationOkoboji.com website, “spring-fed West Lake Okoboji is a beautiful shade of blue” and is the “centerpiece” of the lakes and the communities that surround them.
 
The mid-week destination, Clear Lake IA, is another vacation-tourism stop in Iowa because of its location on the shores of the large lake for which it is named. The Surf Ballroom near this town is famous as the last gig that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper played before boarding a small private plane that crashed and made sad rock-and -oll history on February 3, 1958.  The Ballroom still has concerts and has a Holly tribute show every February.
 
The route to West Union IA from Clear Lake takes runners, walkers, and cyclists through more rolling hills and cornfields, as might be expected in one of the states considered to form “America’s Heartland”. Did you know its wind farms perform enough work to lead the nation in wind power generation?  The charts in a Wikipedia item on the subject show power production is at lowest levels in the summer months. We would not be likely to encounter persistent winds an in-person trip through this area in mid-July.
 
There is much more than agriculture in Iowa. However, on this trip you will see mostly beautiful farmland, quaint towns, and of course, the lakes. I searched the internet for information on Iowa as part of the Great Plains, and learned that the definition of this region varies by source and that the “Midwest”, “Plains States”, and “Great Plains” are not synonymous designations of the same geographic areas.

As proclaimed every week, my online ‘exploration’ of the virtual route segments traveled on this trip merely scratches the surface of what there is to discover, I am eager to travel through these areas in real time in the future.

​America is SO BEAUTIFUL.  I’m convinced that nearly every local humble 5K race along the route could be a memorable experience.
 
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!

http://vacationokoboji.com/
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Lake,_Iowa
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains
 
https://www.reference.com/geography/states-make-up-great-plains-e8100d6eec1f872
 
http://www.city-data.com/forum/general-u-s/1426323-great-plains-region-differences-midwest.html
 

Segment 21: Sioux Falls SD to Okoboji IA

Segment 22: Okoboji IA to Clear Lake IA

Segment 23: Clear Lake IA to West Union IA